Map Making
I added some details to warn player of hazards through environmental storytelling. As the player approaches a broken bridge, they see a tree covered in arrows and corpses in front of them. A cautious player would see this and realize there may be archers they need to be wary of when wading across the swamp.
I also made other improvements to the maps by adding more details indicating the grave situation in the valley. These include NPCs who discuss their hardships or about the atrocities committed by the bandits.
Story & Progression
Worked on planning out boss progression for the player in the first few levels (Tutorial, Grassland, Woodland Village, Swamp). There are required enemies the player must defeat to progress in the game which will often block chokepoints in the map. I also wanted to add some optional enemies the player can seek out and challenge themselves. I wanted the first ronin enemy they encounter to be very difficult the first time. Some players could make repeated attempts to defeat them the first time, or return later on with more experience to challenge them again. I think it keeps the game less linear and also helps add backtracking and replay-ability.
I implemented most of these enemies to the maps but still need to refine their move-sets and appearances. Most of the bandit bosses look identical so I’ll need to find a way to differentiate them better. I currently have a slider for height and skinniness of the character models which I’m playing around with, but I’d like to eventually add different hair styles and more outfits as well.
Dueling Improvements
I improved the look of the opponent title card when challenged to a duel. The text is animated and has a 3D look to it.
I also added a soft haze around the player during duels which prevents the player from escaping the duel area. A realistic context for this could be that the player is bound by his duty to honor the duel and not run from the fight. This mist also serves to prevent players from progressing to new areas without defeating the enemy at the chokepoint.
Music
Dueling music was improved to use FMOD parameters again. Previously I simply faded the music in and out as a placeholder, but now the FMOD states are being set through event dispatchers attached to player or opponent death. This way the music seamlessly ends when the match is over. I also decided to only play combat music during duels to give more intensity and meaning to each duel, rather than it being just another fight.
Time Allocation (12 hours)
- 4 hours – General Programming
- 4 hours – Story & Progression Planning
- 3 hours – Map Making
- 1 hour – User Interface
devpachi 